Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Pineapple & sweet pepper chutney

Front: potato samosa (i.e. fried turnover)

Rear: pineapple & sweet pepper chutney

Shaneen from Malabar Spices generously shares her tomato chutney, I think the ingredients sound absolutely wonderful, which include tamarind(taste resembles to dates but more tangy) and mustard seed (spicy with some depth). Since I don't often eat tomatoes, and I want something going better with pork (as I''m Chinese... most of us love pork), so the recipe is twisted quite a bit. It's my first time to make chutney, I'd highly appreciate for any input and comment :D Thank you!

Ingredients: (yield for 1 big bowl)

1/3 fresh and ripen pineapple, diced

1/4 sweet red bell pepper (large), diced

tamarmind (mine is dried, after soften by warm water extract 3 tsps of paste)

1/4 red onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp mustard seed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

a few dashes of red wine vinegar

small pinch of salt

paprika to taste

honey to taste

Direction

Heat some oil in a skillet, fry onion over low heat for 2 minutes, add mustard seed and cinnamon, fry for another minute. Raise up the heat, add a few dashes of red wine vinegar, pineapple and tamarind, check the liquid... my pineapple is very juicy, so no water is added. After everything's bubbling, simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes.

Add bell pepper and cook for another 5 minutes. I prefer not too watery, so I raise the heat to medium/medium-high, uncover. Add small pinch of salt, paprika and honey to taste.

i will let u know after i make it but it is a unique idea. and chutney is a fresh crushed mix of sweet and/or sour and spicy, so ur pineapple chutney is wonderful in its ingredients.. we do make mango chutney and that is easily available in stores. with tomato the tamarind is needed to add sweetness, like u guessed. try this link. itsounds similar to ur chutney,http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_19594,00.html